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’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL 123
starter. On April 5, 1977, Segui faced the California Angels with a crowd of over 57, 000 in the Kingdome loudly applauding his return to Seattle. e win was not to be his; the Angels shut out the Mariners in their inaugural game, 7-0. Over and over Segui tried but could not get his pitches to sing again for him. His arm, that arm that he once called “the funniest one in the world,” was not giving him much to smile about. He nished the 1977 season no victories, seven defeats, and an ERA of 5.69. He had some good moments that year, like when he struck out 10 Red Sox, a record that stayed on the Mariners’ books for a long time. He tried hard to make his famous forkball work, but it remained incorrigible, and Segui’s year with the Mariners had an unfortunate ending when he was released. After 20 years in professional baseball, he was without a job. He wanted to continue the work he had spent most of his life practicing, and since he had a family to provide for, he returned again to the minor leagues with the hope he could work his way back.
In 1978 Segui had a very successful year with Cordoba, Mexico, where, in his 21st year of professional pitching, he achieved the rst no-hitter of his career and did it, no less, with a perfect game. Segui would not have any more major-league service, but there was another Segui working his way up. His second son, David, was showing interest and talent in baseball. He became a rst baseman for the Baltimore Orioles in 1990. A part of Diego Segui had returned to major- league baseball.
ere are baseball players who earn fame from their statistics, for achieving great things on the eld, and they can leave their mark upon sports history in any number of ways. Diego Segui has done so. Other players may be merely a footnote, or notable as an answer to some obscure baseball trivia question. Diego Segui can claim that as well. In 1984, when the crew of the space shuttle Discovery was circling Earth, the ground crew at the Johnson Space Center in Houston made baseball trivia a routine part of the program in order to keep the astronauts’ minds sharp with some- thing to ponder other than keeping the shuttle aloft. Reporters at NBC Sports in New York also had a
hand in feeding questions to the shuttle crew, and they all sent questions they were sure would stump them. When the astronauts returned, they cornered George Abbey, director of ight-crew operations, their baseball trivia nemesis — and a native of Seattle — and challenged him with their own question. Who was the only man ever to play for both the Seattle Pilots and the Seattle Mariners?
“I told him it was Gorman omas,” said Abbey. “In fact, I insisted that it was Gorman. But now I’m not so sure it wasn’t Diego Segui.”5
Sources
e Baseball Encyclopedia. Ninth Edition (New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1993).
Bergman, Ron, “Reliever Segui Saving A’s With Slick Starting Jobs,” e Sporting News, August 15, 1970.
Gammons, Peter, “Bosox Feel Secure With Segui in Relief, e Sporting News, March 16, 1974.
Gammons, Peter, “Segui, Garagiola in Heated Exchange,” Boston Globe, October 19, 1975.
Kachline, Cli ord, “Cuban Standouts Shun Own Land, Play Elsewhere,” e Sporting News, November 29, 1961.
Keane, Clif, “Wise, Segui Ponder Reasons for Trade,” Boston Evening Globe, March 6, 1974.
Keane, Clif, “Red Sox, You Ask?” Boston Sunday Globe, March 17, 1974. McCoy, Bob, “Baseball Trivia in Space,” e Sporting News,
September 17, 1984.
McGu , Joe, Kansas City Star, March 7, 1966.
Red Sox Notebook, “Tiant’s Sore Shoulder Gave Segui the Start,” Boston Globe, July 30, 1975.
Zimmerman, Hy, “Can Bolin Polish Pilot Swap Image?” e Sporting News, January 3, 1970.
Zimmerman, Hy, “So Long to Ancient Mariner,” e Sporting News, November 19. 1977.
Zimmerman, Hy, “Segui’s Jammed umb Pained Joe Schultz Worse,” Seattle Daily Times. April 6, 1969.
Box Score, Game Five, World Series, Boston Globe, October 19, 1975. National Baseball Hall of Fame File, Diego Segui.
Tiant, Luis, Interview by author, July 15, 2005.
Notes
1 Seattle Daily Times, April 6, 1969.